This section contains more detailed information about the Blacky test and other projective tests.A projective test is a
psychological test in which the person tested has to respond to an image,
object or other stimulus which is in some way ambiguous, vague or unstructured
(Frank 1939). It’s therefore thought to be a way of finding unconscious or
subjective mental processes. There’s an assumption, called the projective hypothesis, that responses to
the test symbolise projections from the subject’s unconscious (Gregory 1996). Variants of projective testing have been
around since the late 19th century, with perhaps the best known, the
Rorschbach inkblot test, published in 1921.
The
Blacky Test
I
found some interesting projective tests, some of which are descripted in more detail in subsequent sections.
Of all the tests, the Blacky test seemed the
easiest to work with as a starting point, perhaps because it’s so very odd, and
so very rooted in a Freudian perspective that seems particularly of its
time. The blacky test was developed by
G S Blum in the 1950’s. The test was designed to test for aspects of
personality development, as conceived of in psychoanalytic theory. The test is
made up of 12 cartoon style pictures showing a dog (Blacky) and his ‘family’ in
a variety of situations. The person
taking the test was to explain what they thought was going on in the photos,
prompted by a series of questions. The exact wording of the question depended
upon the gender of the person taking the test.
The variables tested for included oral eroticism, oral sadism and
Oedipal feelings (Klein 2013). The test was used during the 50’s and 60’s, but
is now little used. The images struck me as particularly odd, as most are
fairly unambiguous and seem to have one main narrative which can be attached to
them. The unabashed classic psychoanalytic concepts, so out of tune with
current interests, also seemed striking.
By contrast to the seemingly unambiguous images, the questions and
multiple choice options which were read to the person taking the test seemed
more fluid. It seemed to me that while showing the image to someone and asking
questions about it would yield very fixed responses, showing the questions first
and asking them to come up with an appropriate image might yield some
interesting results.
More about the test (taken from the test manual)
The Blacky test was designed to address gaps in the range
of psychological tests then available, in particular offering a dynamic test
which could be used within a Freudian / psychoanalytic concept. In order to do
this, it was more highly structured than other projective techniques, although
the images retain ambiguity. The use of
dogs, rather than humans, was supposed to counter this higher level of
structure, as it was felt that dogs re-introduce some freedom of
interpretation. There are 12 cartoons,
showing episodes in the life of Blacky, a dog of ambiguous gender. The first
cartoon is unnumbered and introduces Blacky and his/her family (Mama, Papa, and
sibling Tippy). The remaining cards are numbered, with each one designed to
investigate the following variables:
·
I – Oral eroticism
·
II – Oral sadisim
·
III – Anal sadism
·
IV – Oedipal intensity
·
V -
Masturbation guilt
·
VI -
Castration anxiety (M) OR Penis envy (F)
·
VII – Positive Identification
·
VIII – Sibling rivalry
·
IX – Guilt feelings
·
X – Positive Ego Ideal
·
XI – Love object
(the sequence of X and XI are reversed
depending on gender of examinee)
The gender of Blacky depends on the gender of the person
being tested, with males being told that Blacky is male, females that she is
female). The subject is asked to both
provide a spontaneous story about each card, and also to answer specific
questions about each, with the spontaneous story being requested first. The questions are mainly multiple choice
with some direct questions. The multiple choice questions include “one neutral
alternative and usually two or three maladjusted answers”. The questions are
designed to add depth to the responses generated through spontaneous
story-telling. The test was designed
to take around 45 minutes, and relied upon a good report between tester and
subject. All responses were to be recorded verbatim. Each card is presented with an introductory
comment, as it was found that some cartoons were ambiguous
In terms of interpretation, the test was designed to
gather data from four areas: the spontaneous story, the questions, preferences
for one cartoon or another, and related comments on other cartoons. The interpretation focused upon the latent
rather than manifest content, paying particular attention to emotional
intensity, ego defence mechanisms, evasiveness, symbolism, significant slips
and intensity.
There
are some other very interesting tests. In
the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) (Developed by Murray et al 1938), the person
being tested has to respond to 20 different cards showing pictures in black and
white, by making up a dramatic story about each picture. Unlike the Blacky test, which assumes the
Freudian model of personality, Murray developed a new model of the personality which
the TAT tests for. Later researchers
used different models of scoring and interpretation. A children’s version of the test was also
produced. In the 80’s, an attempt was
made to improve the rather gloomy and negative pictures included in the 30’s
original. The Object Relations
Technique (ORT), developed by Phillipson (1955) is similar to the TAT in that
it uses very ambiguous pictoral stimuli, but has 13 cards showing relationships between
people. It is based upon object relations theory. I was particularly interested in the tests
which work with visual images, as the process of interpretation struck me as
having interesting differences to, and similarities with, the interpretation of
works of art, as might occur in a tutorial or critique. Other visual tests include the Rosenzweig
Picture Frustration Test (PF) (Rosenzweig 1945) and the Symonds Picture Story
Test (Symonds 1948). Lowenfeld (1939)
introduced the idea of using 3-d objects to explore the psyche. Her sandbox
test was designed for children, and involved inviting them to place toys and
other objects in a large tray filled with sand.
I find this one particularly interesting perhaps, again, because of the
links to be made with art practice.
References
Frank, L K (1939) ‘Projective
methods for the study of personality’, Journal of Psychology, 8, 389-413.
Gregory, R J (1996) Psychological
Testing: History, Principles and
Applications (3rd edn.)
Morgan, W G (1995) ‘Origin and
history of the Thematic Apperception Test Images’, Journal
of Personality Assessment, 65, 237-254.
Murray, H A (1938) ‘Explorations in
personality: A clinical and experimental study of 50 men of college age’, OUP, New
York
Phillipson H (1955) The
Object Relations Technique, Tavistock, London
Rosenzweig,
S (1945) ‘The Picture-association method and its application in a study of
reactions to frustration’, Journal of
Personality, 14:1, 3-23.
Symonds,
P M (1948) ‘Manual for Symonds Picture Story Test’, Columbia University, New
York.
Lowenfeld, M (1939) ‘The world
pictures of children: a method of recording and studying them’, British Journal of Medical Psychology, 18:1,
65-101.
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